The Empty Vessel
by letyoursoul
Summary: Because the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Maybe. Loki x OC. Someday I'll write a real summary.
1. Chapter 1

She slammed the door behind her and exhaled. The clang of footsteps rang out as they pursued, but she waited to hear them scatter before springing further into the darkened warehouse. She had to have been running for hours; Rae was beginning to understand what people were talking about when they said adrenaline gave them superhuman powers.

Superhuman powers. The elusive force that got her into this mess in the first place.

_I know what I did was right. It was the right thing to do. Even if no one else would do it, it was still right, dammit. Right?_

She was practically tripping and spilling down a spiral staircase now, and probably spiraling towards a heart attack if she didn't take a breather. The room at the bottom was dark except for an eerie green glow from emergency lights. This had to be one of S.H.I.E.L.D's top secret archive rooms, where they kept the really good stuff they were too cautious, or afraid, or selfish (at this point she wasn't sure which) to share with the rest of the universe. She felt along the wall as she walked through the isles, row after row of strange boxes, weapons in glass gases, matter suspended in cryo-tubes, ancient relics that seemed to hum with energy. It was like an alien library, and she took a moment or two to quirk an eyebrow and run curious fingers over things she really shouldn't be touching as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

Rae going to die if she didn't get out. And fast. And not just out; very, very out. Outest. So out that not even the most advanced trans-universal organization could track her. So, that was going to be fun.

And then, there it was. "I recognize you," she murmured, approaching the glowing blue capsule locked into the wall in a steal grip. A piece of the tesseract. No one knew it had been left behind, or even found in the first place. Another one of S.H.I.E.L.D's little secrets, for posterity. Or blackmail, or more exploitation and scheming and-  
Rae clenched her fists in anger. To think she had dedicated years of her life to an institution-no, to a dream-that only existed in her idealistic imagination. There were no good guys, heroes, protectors. There were only opposing forces. Obstacles, power, leaders, followers. Well, now everything was out in the open. Now the world knew who S.H.I.E.L.D. really was. And even though after they killed her, they'd surely find a way to make her look like a crazed terrorist spreading lies about their benevolent causes, it still had to be done. But if she could live to keep fighting, all the better.

Somewhere on the levels above her, the pursuing agents were barking orders and rushing chaotically through the base. She rolled her eyes. How difficult could it be to track down one stupid girl? They were all flash and technology, but no real skill. None of these morons knew up from down if their GPS didn't tell them so. Still, they were too close. And she wasn't ready to die, or worse. Freedom beckoned before her like a literal light in the darkness. Well shit, I'm getting all metaphorical now.

"How the hell do you work this thing?" Rae said to the cold glowing dimness around her. When no one answered, she decided she really didn't have much to lose at this point, and entered the access code, releasing the little blue fragment into her trembling fingers. Worlds swam before her eyes in a dazzling spectacle of pain and possibility. It was disorienting and beautiful and she wanted nothing more than for it to stop, and to be gone, to follow this wild energy deep into the universe and never return to the world that raised her and then betrayed her, revealing itself to be full of cowards and false idols ravenous for power. And if the journey killed her, at least it was her own choice.

A voice from above echoed like a stone bouncing down into a cavern. "Ex-agent Vaughn is rouge and hostile. Repeat, Rae Vaughn is enemy number one." The voice was garbled, filtered through a radio and several feet of steel and stone. Rae shivered, acclimating herself to being enemy number one. "Pursue by any means," the voice continued, without a hint of regret or hesitation. She had probably had coffee with the guy ordering her execution at the moment.

She had given them everything. All her knowledge, her passion, her dreams. Rae had placed her hope in a future that would never happen, because humanity would never allow it. There is no good and evil, she repeated over and over to herself. That was what she had written in the leak she had released to every receptive media source just hours before. Just that single sentence as introduction, and following, the truth. Transcripts of the inhumane testing, the assassinations swept under the rug, the weapons development, the technology to play God and all the questionable ways it had been used so far. And everything else. Everything she had helped to create, unknowingly. And now she had done her best to destroy it all. What more was there to do here now? As her fingers closed more steadily around the relic, she let go of that hope, that idealistic vision, of humanity itself.

When the agents' ear buds warned of an energetic disturbance and sent them flooding into the vault, they arrived in time to glimpse a surge of white hot light, and for just a fleeting second, what may have been a pleased smile and a whirl of ash blonde hair before all the lights in the base went out.

Golden eyes danced with just the faintest tint of green. But even now, he saw nothing but the immediate stars; yet he knew that all around him, worlds were turning, building, reaching, failing, dying. He tried to see, but wasn't yet sure if he wanted to. The golden curve of the bifrost framed a calm night sky, and that really ought to be enough. But then there was a shimmer, a brief flash, and the portal seemed to groan with use. Someone had arrived, and without the help of the bifrost. He slid out the huge sword and whirled around to face the intruder.

"Woah! Chill!" she hearkened for the way of a greeting. The sword lowered just an inch in confusion, and the golden eyes searched the unexpected visitor. A woman-definitely human-unarmed and extremely unimposing in every way. On the tall side, even as she leaned against the curve of the wall for support. She was weary yet alert, and appeared uninjured. And she was staring at him with narrowed gray eyes behind stray locks of blonde. He would have much rather dealt with a frost giant, to be completely honest. This was just awkward.

"I am Heimdal, gatekeeper of Asgard" he offered, carefully, deliberately. "Who are you and by what means have you come?" He flashed a speedy glance over his shoulder. They were still alone.

Rae pried very stiff fingers off of the glass vial that contained the tesseract fragment, and showed it to Heimdal slowly. Standing up straight and stretching, she remarked, "It was quite a ride. I'm Rae. Vaughn. Of uh, Midgard." She punctuated with a little half-hearted curtsy, which didn't work out too well since she was wearing jeans. Did they even curtsy here? Maybe she just insulted him by accident. Cultural integration hadn't exactly been part of her training.

The guardian snatched the vial from her hand, siding the sword back into place, forgotten. The movement was so swift and graceful, Rae didn't have a moment to react before he was turning the relic over in his hands, studying it intently. "Where did you get this? Explain yourself, woman!" he demanded.

Rae sighed, unfazed. "Look, I don't want any trouble. I'm already in enough of that." She took a few cautious steps around the gate room, leaning gingerly out towards the endless stars, but keeping an eye on Heimdal all the while. He, on the other hand, wouldn't stop watching his own back. She took advantage of this in order to snatch the fragment back and stuff it into the small over-shoulder bag she carried. "That is not yours to wield. It belongs to Asgard." He held out an open hand, inviting her to be compliant.

She was just about completely done with being compliant.

"Sorry but no. I don't know you or anything about you and I know enough about this to not just hand it over to the first person who pretends to have authority over me. If you're going to kill me, go for it. The market's great right now, timing's never been better, gotta nab your opportunities when-why do you look so paranoid, Heimdal, gatekeeper of Asgard?"

Golden eyes pulsed green, or maybe she imagined it. He composed his features. "You are wise not to trust blindly, Rae of Midgard," he simply said.

"Yeah. Learned that the hard way," she was pacing again, this time drifting towards the glistening rainbow bridge that stretched off towards the city. Maybe she could find someone there to take pity on her, get some food, find somewhere to sleep...

"You are running," the deep voice interrupted her internal planning.

"Technically, I'm walking," she countered. "But I was running. There was a lot of running involved. Then there was a lot of light and a headache, and now I'm rambling. Sorry."

The man raised one eyebrow. Curiosity would most definitely be his undoing. He was surprised there wasn't a prophecy of the sort by now. "And who, pray, do you run from?"

Rae sighed, stood to face him fully. He was enormously tall and sort of terrifying, but he was definitely hiding secrets of his own. "S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe you've heard of it. You're the guy that sees everything, aren't you?"

He swallowed. "Yes."

"I worked for them. They're...not who they say they are. I let everyone know, and now they want me dead. But you know, that's life, right?"  
"And so you come to Asgard for sanctuary, by means of an infinity stone which can only be wielded by those who understand it, and you expect to be welcomed into our society without question?"

The girl narrowed her eyes, then looked away. "I didn't exactly have loads of time to think it through."

"Then you are a fool," he replied, dismissing her by turning away. This frustrated her, probably more than it needed to. "Look, I've had kind of a long day, okay? And what I did had to be done. You have no idea what was coming, what they were planning to do, if no one had at least tried to put an end to it, those people would have been ruling the world-all the worlds-in a few years. And when I see something wrong I have to fix it. Or make it worse. Whichever presents itself at the moment," she exhaled sharply, ran a hand roughly over her eyes and pushed back her hair, then started for the bridge again. "So, can I pass or enter or whatever, or not?"

He studied her carefully, and for a moment he stopped worrying about anyone seeing them, or not being able to see beyond the local sky, or even the immensely powerful relic she carried. Rae almost detected the beginnings of a smile, sly and arrogant and rather unmatched to the sturdy figure before her, before his steady gaze returned. "Know this: I will be watching. Welcome to Asgard."

Rae nodded at him casually and slipped off down the rainbow bridge, but after a few paces, the gatekeeper turned his back again, and Rae ducked back around the edge of the bifrost globe, peering in with one eye.

A figure shimmered into existence, bound by an ethereal golden rope, golden eyes ablaze with rage. "You know I'm not sure the world can handle two of you, good Heimdal," said the other, in a new, mocking voice. And in a moment there was only one Heimdal, and it was the one tied up on the floor. Rae stared in shock as the man who had met her became none other than Loki, the God of Mischief, previous enemy number one of S.H.I.E.L.D., and previously declared dead. He smiled a wicked smile and vanished Heimdal's bonds with a wave of his hand. "This has been immensely informative, but I'll be going now." And he was gone, leaving behind only a momentary green haze in his wake.  
_Well then,_ Rae concluded, _I guess I'll have to defend my status as enemy number one._


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for the nice reviews! It really motivates me to keep writing :]

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Asgard had a cat problem, which wasn't really a problem for Rae. She wondered if they worshiped them like the Egyptians, or maybe the cats here really did posses magical properties. That was just what she needed in her life-magical cat gods. Her fiancé-wow, definitely ex-fiance now, still getting used to that-had made her give her cat away when he moved in. That was probably the first sign things were going to go south. Never trust anyone who doesn't like cats. They might end up outing you as the one who triggered the explosion in the research lab of S.H.I.E.L.D. and lead the SOs to where you're hacking the database to catch you in the act. She was still wearing the ring, she suddenly realized with a surge of anger. But before she could rip it off like it was on fire and chuck it into the nearest ditch, she got a better idea. Rae examined the hideous gold circle, encrusted with generic, gaudy diamonds, reflecting the odd angles of the Asgardian sun. There was what appeared to be a market in the courtyard just ahead, and the trinket was surely worth something. At least, worth more currency than it was a fond reminder of her dearly betrothed.  
"Looking to sell?" said a smooth voice. Rae turned to see a woman draped with jewelry, leaning languidly against a flowering tree. In her arms, a black cat squinted its emerald eyes contentedly.  
"Yes, I am," Rae replied. Well that was convenient. She smiled at the stranger, and gingerly stroked the cat's ears. "What a pretty cat," she blurted, before catching herself being so awkward. Damn these animals, turning her into a blubbering idiot.  
She met the woman's eyes and held out the ring to her. "It's all I have. How much is it worth?" Rae had never bartered in her life. She was fully prepared to be swindled. But the woman took the ring like it was the most delicate of treasures, and turned it round and round in the light. "You are a noblewoman, where you come from?" she murmured. Right. The jeans sort of screamed Not-From-Around-Here.  
"Uh, no. It was a gift. Engagement ring."  
"And now you want to sell it? Hmm," the woman's bracelets jingled faintly as she put her hands down and eyed Rae curiously. It felt just a bit too intrusive.  
"Yes. I do."  
"You run from him as well?" the woman had gone back to studying the ring.  
"I don't-wait. Only one person knew I was running from anything, Heimdal," suddenly Rae felt her heartbeat race with anxiety and just a bit of anger. Fool me once and all that.  
"I...only guessed," she countered quickly. Too quickly.  
"Why are you following me, Loki?"  
She dropped the cat, grabbed Rae's arm, and whirled her into a small space between two buildings. In a shimmer of green, the arms pinning her to the wall belonged to the fallen prince himself. He was pretty tall close up. Tall enough to make Rae pretty uncomfortable. His eyes flicked around frantically, assuring they were alone. When he seemed satisfied, the eyes locked onto Rae's. That heart attack was a definite possibility at this point.  
"You know," he hissed, voice low and sinister, "if I killed you now, there wouldn't be a single Asgardian who'd even know you were ever here."  
Rae rolled her eyes in an attempt to mask her growing panic. "Please. You would have killed me right away if there wasn't something else you wanted."  
He roughly let her go and stepped back. "Maybe I just like to play with my kill before I finish it off," he grumbled, but it was clear she had won this one. "Very well. I have questions, and I cannot learn much from a corpse. But let me be clear: if you so much as hint that I am not dead, my curiosity will quickly fade."  
"I can work with that. Let's trade answers, shall we?" Rae rubbed her arm where he had gripped it, then quickly pretended not to notice the imminent bruising because she was a big tough mortal who could totally handle this. So there.  
Loki huffed and walked around the corner. After a moment of standing in confusion, Rae saw him step back and give her an impatient glare. "Well, do follow me, Lady Rae of Midgard." She complied.  
A six-foot stone wall had surrounded the courtyard. Here, and the end of the alley, Loki deftly flicked his hand and the stones shimmered to reveal an archway. They stepped through without a word, and the stones reappeared after them. On the other side, an ancient forest creaked and swayed in the golden glow of the late afternoon sun. A small "oh" escaped on a breath before she could help it. After years of studying other-worldly plants and animals for a living, this was basically too much for her to handle.  
If only the circumstances had been different. She would have preferred not slipping away unnoticed into a secret forest alone with a murderous, insane God of Lies probably never to return again. You take what you can get in this life, though.  
Loki said nothing until they were a good distance away from any sign of civilization. Deciding this was sufficient, he turned to face her under angular shadows from the twisted branches surrounding them. "Very well, first question-" he began.  
"Why does everyone think you're dead?" Rae interrupted. Loki sighed as if this was the most tedious question he had ever been asked. "Long story, very dull, not important. The point is, if the Allfather learns I am not in fact rotting in a ditch on Svartalfheim, then I'll rot in a prison cell instead."  
"For that little business of unleashing an alien army on New York."  
"My my, you are a quick one. My turn. Where did you get that?" he pointed a long finger rather rudely at the girl's side, and it took her a moment to realize he was referring to the Tesseract segment. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had it. I didn't know much about it...my work was more with alien dirt and digestive systems and really thrilling things like that. But I did know it could move people between realms."  
"How did you activate it?" he demanded, voice rising in pitch with curiosity and excitement. He was looming over her again, looking down expectantly like a child about to receive a present. This was a good indicator that she should probably never let Loki get a hold of the sliver.  
"Nope. My turn. What did you do to Heimdal? Isn't he just going to tell everyone you're alive? Or did you kill him as soon as you were done?"  
Loki's lip flinched a bit with disgust and he backed off. "Despite what you may have heard, I don't just murder everyone in my path. As long as my memory spell holds out, Heimdal lives to be impersonated another day."  
"So there's method to your madness."  
"I don't know if that was a question, but it's my turn anyway," he snapped, then flashed a wide, charming smile. "Just what exactly is your plan?"  
There were a few beats of silence, and Rae because acutely aware of the subtle "wwsshhh" of the flying insects, the unique shade of almost turquoise leaves, and the occasional crackling of the wind through the trees. Her attentions were drawn all around her to this entirely foreign world, the way the very air felt new, and the ground beneath her feet was comprised of entirely different biological material...her plan...her plan...the plan. A pale gray bird with impossibly long tail feathers cut elegantly through the twisting branches and she held her breath until it was out of sight.  
Loki studied the mortal girl in front of him. She was plain and seemed all angles; from the point of her noise to the narrow turn of her eyes, the light color reflecting hints of green from the sun and the forest around them. When he had had time for women, they had been soft, doe-eyed, dark-haired conquests that seemed to only exist in the very heart of the night and disappear before morning, like magic. Looking at this woman was like staring directly into the sun. He wasn't sure if he should look away or try to adjust.  
"I can't answer that one."  
Loki blinked a few times. "What?" Distracted. He wanted to study new things, find out how they work. How she worked.  
"My plan. I guess it was just to explore Asgard and figure something out. Exist for a while. Until I get a plan."  
"You do not wish to return to Earth to complete your vengeance?" he prompted. A free ride on the Tesseract and a war waged on S.H.I.E.L.D., sounded like something he'd like to be involved in. But Rae laughed. "No, I'm not trying to go back there until I have a death wish. I'm pretty sure the entire planet will have me on a wanted list any minute now. I blew up some pretty expensive equipment and leaked some really sensitive intel, and with just the agents' words to go on, the world is going to see me as a terrorist. There isn't any more I can do now that I've been identified."  
"How were you identified? A moment of carelessness perhaps? Human error?"  
The young woman seemed to shut down. She swallowed and looked away, uncomfortable. "You already asked your question," she said softly. Loki smirked, knowing weakness when he saw it. This would be one to save for later use. "True, my lady," he bowed with mock humility and paced away a few steps. Rae watched his fluid movements, likening him to a ghost after all, gliding through the dancing shadows. "And what would you ask?" came that voice, silver-sweet with the rise and a prick of danger in the fall.  
"Everything," Rae groaned. "I'm tired and hungry and I have no money and the person I tried to sell this damn ring to turned out to be a not-dead shape-shifting asshole so I'm sort of running out of options here."  
Loki gave a quick burst of laughter at the unfamiliar insult. "If you think I am an_ asshole_-" he mimicked her accent "-you clearly haven't met anyone else from this awful rock." Rae was distracted from the glow of the natural world around her then, and turned her full attention on dark-haired man with the hardened expression not doing much to mask the wild in his eyes. She suddenly held a wealth of questions; if he hated everyone so much, why did he want to be their king? Why didn't he kill her now that he knew the answers and take the Tesseract? Why was he impersonating various Asgardians instead of just going somewhere else? Wasn't there anyone whom he would want to know he was alive? And, most importantly, where could a girl get some food around here? But all that came out was, "Why are you doing this?"

The tall Aesir seemed to grow small, and green eyes searched the cluttered forest floor as he wove the correct words in his mind. "No one has seen me in a very long time. Call me arrogant, but I suppose I enjoy the company when I'm not pretending to be someone else that they'd rather speak to." And her possession of a powerful artifact which she could control at will-and clearly did not even understand how great a feat that was-certainly didn't hurt her case. He smiled, a pathetic, strained little smile, and started off, as if curving back towards the city. He led Rae with finger tips just touching the small of her back, as if she were made of flames, before dropping the hand again entirely just as she noticed it was there. "Let's say I shift into some kindly commoner, who stumbled upon this Midgardian refugee-you poor lost soul-and we'll trade that awful ring for a bottle of wine."  
"Best idea I've heard all day."


	3. Chapter 3

Woohoo, chapter 3 finally! Reviews are, as always, appreciated. The next chapter is when things get really exciting, I promise. Also, I'm on tumblr as letyoursoul, let's be friends.

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When you're dead you have nothing to prove, which can be nice. Loki had taken the form of the jewelry woman again; he had since forgotten who she really was, but he liked the way others respected her while staying just a bit wary. After they had sold the ring, he and the human had indeed acquired a bottle of very fine wine, which Loki's alluring form may or may not have scored them free of charge. He had quite enjoyed watching Rae struggling to contain her amusement as the wine seller raked his gaze over the mysterious woman. But then, as they went to go, the salesman cautioned, "The Allfather won't like it, you know. Humans have no place in Asgard, no matter what sort of trouble you're in. You would be wise to go back home."

Rae kept her chin high and didn't look at him as they walked away. Loki knew he was right. Even Thor's beloved Jane had been coldly rejected until the circumstances revealed her to be of importance to them. He imagined Thor was with her now, somewhere on Earth, ignoring his duties, ignoring him...But Rae had laughed at his magic, the first in a lifelong string of rolled eyes and turned heads and sighs. And, being dead, Loki didn't have to worry about anyone else's opinion of him. He led her to the gate of the bifrost, nodded discretely for her to follow, and jumped deftly off the side. Rae was stunned for a moment, but then followed suit. They landed on a beach of sorts; a sloping shore of coarse bronze sand, under the bifrost and between the great waterfalls, stretching down into the abyss of the stars. Loki grinned and shimmered back to himself, sitting down just beneath the translucent colors of the bridge above. Rae joined him, and snatched the bottle while he was busy feeling smug about his impressive hiding spot.

After a very long drink from the slender bottle, Rae let herself look at the God of Mischief who sat beside her. She handed it over, and he took a short sip, then locked his eyes back onto her, watching. It was a stale mate of sorts. But Asgardian wine was very efficient, and after a quiet moment, it was Rae who spoke first.

"Come here often?"

The joke was lost on Loki, who replied, "From time to time." He offered the bottle again, and she accepted.

"You trying to get me drunk?" he was too quiet and it was making her nervous. But Loki was all stoicism and seriousness at the moment, quietly watching her as the bifrost glowed in dancing muted colors across their faces. "Perhaps," his eyes flickered over her, and for a moment breathing was painful, until he continued. "I have always found intoxication to be fascinating. A solicitation of truth and reality amid a web of constructed personalities and lies."

"Why don't you just cast a truth spell on me then?"

He smiled faintly. "If only such a thing existed. Lies are intangible; sometimes we even believe them as they are spoken. Such a thing cannot be controlled."

"I'm not lying about the fragment," Rae said.

"But there is more you have not told me."

She leaned back against the slope of sand and studied the stars all around her. The information she had exposed to the Earth was important enough to risk her life over, so handing it over to a fallen prince from another planet required a second thought or two. But then, Asgard should know. And then, on the other hand, once Loki learned all the details he needed, what was to stop him from killing her and taking the Tesseract fragment? As long as she held bits of her mystery, she held on to her worth. Which was pretty depressing, to say the least. Maybe a bit melodramatic, too. There was wild madness in the bright green eyes that watched her, but not evil. Not that she could see.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has been gathering artefacts and information for a very long time. They say they lock it up and keep it away from the world because that much power should never belong to anyone. Now, imagine if all that information, all those procured puzzle pieces and superhuman power sources weren't actually buried from everyone, but instead they were kept, catalogued, studied, duplicated. Hybridized and enhanced. The only thing more powerful than alien technology is human arrogance. S.H.I.E.L.D.-they're you and you're Chitauri army, only add decades of careful research and several miles of warehouse full of amped up technology. And they don't just want the planet, they want the universe. They've been preparing for a war, some kind of grand display of power, to prove that the humans are the best and the brightest, and the rest should fear us all."

Loki looked disgusted. "Ridiculous. Humans waging war on gods. You're sure of this?"

"I wasn't anyone important when I worked there. I did mostly data entry taking pictures of organic specimens for the archives, that sort of thing. But, being unimportant and unnoticed has its advantages. It gave me a lot of opportunity to poke around under the radar."  
He smiled. Much like being dead. "That I can understand. Although, if what you're saying is true, I may not have the luxury much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that someone ought to warn-" Loki stopped short and his eyes darted up above them. He threw up a hand to silence any reaction from the girl, who also heard the footsteps-heavy, confident, and followed by the surefooted gait of two guards. Loki leaned in close and whispered mockingly, "The king approaches." He was walking out to Heimdal's post. It must have been a summons of great import, to call the king out to speak with him. For a moment Loki worried that his memory spell hadn't worked, but that was impossible. His craft was perfect. Something else was going on, and he wanted to be the first to know. After the footsteps had passed overhead, he conjured a faint green glow in one hand, preparing.

"I'm going to take a closer look at this. Wait here," he commanded definitively, and closed his eyes to focus on the magic. Rae interrupted. "What? No way. Let me come. I should tell Odin about S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway-"  
"Are you mad? A strange human girl, completely out of nowhere, drops into his realm and threatens war? He'll probably have you killed on the spot. Now, let me handle this."  
"At least let me come. Make me invisible or whatever."

He quirked an eyebrow, gave an amused look that frankly sent terror into Rae's very soul, and shrugged. "As you wish." In a brief flash of light, Rae looked up to see a black bird fluttering into the air where Loki had stood. Oh, clever. But what about...oh. Rae stretched out her arms to discover they were, in fact, black feathered wings, and her entire bird-shaped body buzzed with a strange electrical energy. So that's what magic felt like, then. She tried to fly up to where Loki hovered, only to flip over and plummet back onto the sand with a thud. The raven above flew in quick circles and she swore if birds could laugh, this bird was laughing at her. Another try and she was flying beside him, struggling to keep up as they cut through the air and overtook the procession of guards and the Allfather just as he greeted the gatekeeper. The birds perched quietly above and listened.

"My king," Heimdal bowed, still a bit cautious since his recent treason had been forgiven.  
"You summoned me with news," Odin prompted, all business.  
"There have been many mysteries on Asgard lately. We have lost time and no memory of what has happened, and now this."  
Rae saw Loki ruffle his feathers proudly. He was getting away with it-for now, at least.  
"Speak," the Allfather demanded.  
Heimdal stepped closer to the window which overlooked the stars. "Someone is trying to get in. I can feel it. There is a thinning of the walls, and pressure at the back of my vision. It is as if somewhere, on the other end, a portal is being created, although it is not yet strong enough to open."

Rae threw a look at Loki, and as far as she could tell in their current forms, he understood. SHIELD was on the move, already. Odin looked concerned, but not entirely worried by the news. "Our defenses will hold, and you will watch this doorway closely. What more can be done?"  
"My king, this energy feels different. Strong and complex. I do not understand it and I cannot see through to whom is weilding it. This worries me greatly. You should take precaution," the low voice was full of dread. Odin looked quietly at the stars for a moment, then turned to face him again.

"Tell no one of what you have seen. Asgard will face any foe that dares breach our borders, and we will not cower in fear." He turned and walked back down the bifrost to conclude the issue, leaving Heimdal staring vacantly, confused, into the sky. Loki shot off into the sky and back to the shore beneath the bridge and Rae had to fly hard to catch up to him. When she landed-clumsily-beside him, another flash of light brought them back to their natural forms. He was fuming.

"Coward! Idiot! A fair warning is handed directly to him and he choses to ignore it! And all along they've noticed the lost time when I've impersonated them, but it never crossed their minds that-" he huffed and paced and raked a hand through his hair. Rae blinked and dusted the sand off herself. "Does no one see anything? Listen to anything?" He continued. "Of course not. Everyone is too tied up in their own stupidity to think." If he were king, he thought, such things would never even be possible. The humans would know better than to test him.

"So what do you propose we do then?" Rae was ready to take action. Her expose must have triggered them to speed up their research. She had tried to stop them, but instead, she made them desperate. A sickening feeling dropped into her stomach then. They were coming to Asgard. They would come for her.

Loki turned and loomed over her, and she tried to hide the fear that answered his glare. "We do not do a thing, my dear, because, you will recall, I am dead and you are no one important."

"Maybe it's time you...stopped being dead?"

He looked away, into the darkness, far away into a distant and twisted future full of branching possibilities, all terrible. All the ways he could be rejected again and again. He couldn't bear to imagine the shock and frustration on his so-called family's faces when they saw that he still lived. Or, worse yet, the complete indifference. To be reduced again to a useless shadow, locked away where he could cause no more unneeded damage.

"Out of the question."

Rae drew in a breath and tried to steady herself. It was as if she could feel them getting closer, see them frantically changing the chemistry and the alignments and the formulae, not caring what they destroyed in their path. Anything to break through to another realm-just to prove they can. And then? What else would they prove?

"They'll find me," she was unable to still the trembling in her voice, or the shaking of her hands as she twisted them together. Tentatively, with the delicate uncertainty of a fearful child, Loki took her hands in his and stilled them. She didn't look at him, but watched the slight, nervous movements of his own fingers.

"Not if I can help it."


End file.
